Policy interventions in home-based and clinic-based care management programs are used as mid-stream interventions to help with depression in older adults. What are the ethical issues that are...

Policy interventions in home-based and clinic-based care management programs are used as mid-stream interventions to help with depression in older adults. What are the ethical issues that are raised by the interventions proposed? How can I use the ethical frameworks described by Gostin to analyze these midstream interventions?

This is an interestingly intricate question in that Gostin's framework is quite mindful of these ethical issues (especially in regard to midstream interventions of older adults suffering from advanced stages of depression). Gostin’s framework is concerned with the social justice of health care being available to older adults in a balanced and fair manner.

There are many facets to the healthcare of older adults, including prevention, action, and support. Many times, because of the bureaucratic nature of health care, older adults in most need of services, may have the most difficulty in determining what type of medical intervention will work best.

One of our eNotes educators had something really good to say about this in the following quotation (link below):

Since our country celebrates the affluent instead of redistributing the wealth, rich people are healthy people and impoverished people are left to their own devices.

In the realm of prevention, it would be prudent to have services most needed by the elderly located in an easily accessible area. This would include everyday needs such as supermarkets and drugstores.

Public health of the elderly should, according to Gostin, involve the federal, state, and local governments to be effective. There is a shared responsibility which society must address to help the elderly in dealing with depression and other medical issues.